Ensemble Investments LLC of Phoenix is proposing a 308-unit apartment tower with a half-acre public plaza on a blighted property on Delaware River piers that was the site of a deadly nightclub collapse in 2000.

Under the plan being presented to Philadelphia community groups ahead of its formal application for zoning approvals, the Pier 34/35 South apartment building would rise 22 stories, Mark Sanderson, a principal with Digsau, the project’s architect, said in an email this week.

The site plan places the tower on the partially submerged Pier 34 at 735 S. Christopher Columbus Blvd. near Fitzwater Street, just south of the Residences at Dockside condominium building. It would have about 100 parking spaces in a garage behind the building, the minimum allowed under the area’s zoning, though more spots could be set aside for residents at a public lot across the street, Sanderson said.

The adjacent Pier 35, now completely underwater during high tides, would be restored and landscaped into a public space inspired by Spruce Harbor Park, a summertime attraction with hammocks and food stalls farther up the waterfront at Penn’s Landing, he said. It also would have a 5,000-square-foot retail structure at its base, facing South Columbus Boulevard.

Under its current design, the tower would stand 244 feet, the maximum permitted on the central Philadelphia’s waterfront for projects making the most of available “bonuses” that let developers add height in exchange for including features seen as benefiting the larger community, he said. The project will get most of the way to that height through bonuses offered for public space, bike paths and retail.

Ensemble acquired the two-pier parcel in 2007, seven years after three women died at the site when a nightclub then on the property collapsed into the river.

The company is also developer of the Courtyard by Marriott hotel in the South Philadelphia Navy Yard.

A plan of development for a 209-unit residential development at Piers 34 and 35 was approved by the Philadelphia City Planning Commission Tuesday, after the developer amended the plan with an expanded public walkway to the riverfront and larger space for ground-level retail.

See floorplan and gallery. Allegedly due for comletion around September. With more boomers and older people with money funneling into the city, the city and developers wants to appeal to a demographic that wants to avail themselves of city living but has gotten used to a lot of space. Both owners and renters.

Ensemble Investments LLC of Phoenix is proposing a 308-unit apartment tower with a half-acre public plaza on a blighted property on Delaware River piers that was the site of a deadly nightclub collapse in 2000.

Under the plan being presented to Philadelphia community groups ahead of its formal application for zoning approvals, the Pier 34/35 South apartment building would rise 22 stories, Mark Sanderson, a principal with Digsau, the project’s architect, said in an email this week.

The site plan places the tower on the partially submerged Pier 34 at 735 S. Christopher Columbus Blvd. near Fitzwater Street, just south of the Residences at Dockside condominium building. It would have about 100 parking spaces in a garage behind the building, the minimum allowed under the area’s zoning, though more spots could be set aside for residents at a public lot across the street, Sanderson said.

The adjacent Pier 35, now completely underwater during high tides, would be restored and landscaped into a public space inspired by Spruce Harbor Park, a summertime attraction with hammocks and food stalls farther up the waterfront at Penn’s Landing, he said. It also would have a 5,000-square-foot retail structure at its base, facing South Columbus Boulevard.

Under its current design, the tower would stand 244 feet, the maximum permitted on the central Philadelphia’s waterfront for projects making the most of available “bonuses” that let developers add height in exchange for including features seen as benefiting the larger community, he said. The project will get most of the way to that height through bonuses offered for public space, bike paths and retail.

Ensemble acquired the two-pier parcel in 2007, seven years after three women died at the site when a nightclub then on the property collapsed into the river.

The company is also developer of the Courtyard by Marriott hotel in the South Philadelphia Navy Yard.

I'm totally fine with this proposal at this time. In the future, we'll demand more.

At some point Del Ave/Columbus Blvd will be lined with high rises from here up to SugarHouse Casino. If the partial capping of I-95 turns out to be anything like a mini-Millennium Park in Chicago -- I'm sure high-rise development increases exponentially here. (a light rail service would also do it! with an express to the stadiums! but that's pie in the sky stuff).

I'm totally fine with this proposal at this time. In the future, we'll demand more.

At some point Del Ave/Columbus Blvd will be lined with high rises from here up to SugarHouse Casino. If the partial capping of I-95 turns out to be anything like a mini-Millennium Park in Chicago -- I'm sure high-rise development increases exponentially here. (a light rail service would also do it! with an express to the stadiums! but that's pie in the sky stuff).

Obviously the funding needs to be there (so a longterm dream or pipe dream), but I'd like to see the Park cap extended over I-95 and Columbus to Dock Street on the one side and Arch on the other. Can be a mixture of additional park and buildings that sit atop. Then North of Arch, Columbus would not be capped, but the 2011 Master Plan would be implemented, which is supposed to look like the picture in this article: http://www.philly.com/philly/columni...-20171214.html At least back South to Washington as well.